1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that is applied to MFPs (Multi Function Peripherals), etc. capable of administrating output of confidential documents, etc., an image processing method, and a recording medium having an image processing program stored therein to make a computer of the image processing apparatus execute image processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
It is heretofore known by what is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publications No. 6-20027, No. 2005-151149 and No. 2005-148393, that when a confidential document is outputted for example, additional information is embedded in a ground pattern behind an image on the document, then an operation to copy the document is performed under control according to the embedded information, so that any third party could not copy the document without permission.
However, with this configuration to perform an operation to copy a document under control according to additional information embedded in the document as described above, even a right user such as an owner of the document may be prohibited from performing that operation, which still leaves very much inconveniences.
To cope with this issue, Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-201069 discloses an art, wherein if a pattern given behind an image on a document is detected as the one indicating “output prohibit”, a password is simply entered to cancel output prohibit.
However, this art disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-201069 is not perfect to administer security of documents, wherein even a user who is not the originator of the document can cancel output prohibit as long as he/she is the user authenticated to use the image processing apparatus, since a password stored in the image processing apparatus for user authentication is also used as a password for cancellation of output prohibit.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.